false friends - D

What is this?

There's a certain amount of words which came into both Serbian and English from other languages, mostly Latin, but have different meanings in each language.

Even native English words may mean something else in Serbian, for several reasons:
1) they were misunderstood when coming into Serbian
2) they were understood well first time, but changed their meaning in English meanwhile
3) they were understood well first time, but changed their meaning in Serbian meanwhile

Of course, there is also all the Greek and Latin which is wrongly used in English - just look up "pathetic", and remember how it's used today.

9-III-2006 - 1-I-2023 go home  
in English
in Serbian it means
is similar to
which means
date, v.
izaći sa
datirati (od)
be as ancient as (age)
datum
podatak (reč se u stvari ne koristi u engleskom); nulta visina u geografiji
datum
date (in calendar only, not romance, not fruit)
decade
deset godina
dekada
ten days
delicatessen
suhomesnato, salame i sirevi na sečenje
delikates
special high quality and price foods (not necessarily sausages and cheese, can be anything)
diet
ishrana
dijeta
nutritional regimen for one who is fat or ill
direction
pravac, smer, uputstvo
direkcija
company HQ
directory
imenik
direktorijum
directorate
discount
popust
diskont
retail store operating at wholesale prices by legal loophole
discretion
pravo odlučivanja slobodnim (sudijskim) uverenjem
diskrecija
keeping hush, going incognito
distribution
raspodela (u novčanom i statističkom smislu)
distribucija
a system for mass delivery (of electricity, radio signal, newspapers etc)
distributor
razvodna kapa (kod benzinskog motora)
distributer
company or utility delivering en masse (electricity, newspapers to kiosks, movies to theatres etc)
djinn
duh iz boce
džin
giant
doctor the statistics
lažirati brojke
doktorirati statistiku
get a PhD in statistics
dress
haljina
dres
jersey
dresser
toaletni stočić
dreser
animal trainer
dress, v.
odenuti
dresirati
to train
drugstore
drogerija, apoteka
dragstor
24/7 convenience store